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I spend some of my day thinking about how to give back to those who give to me. I tip the guy who brings us the pizza (Bonello's, on Anza, best in the Beach Cities), I make my kids laugh and keep Toaster Strudels in stock, I heat Leslie's towels in the dryer while she takes a bath.

Every once in a while I think of how I can pay back Magazine Man for his gift of his writing. Last night, it occurred to me. I can create a post that will send googlers to his site. And, at the same time, pay him a genuinely heartfelt compliment. How is this done? Volume! ...no, not really. I do it by comparing Magazine Man to my all-time favorite writer, Stephen King.

To be clear, I lurve Stephen King. His writing is like glass, smooth and unfettered by rough patches. Like silk. I've been reading Stephen King since I was in my early teens and I still vouch for him today. Normally, when readers ask me for a book recommendation, Stephen King is first out of my mouth.

However, what if they already know about Stephen King? That's easy - Magazine Man is the first writer that I mention when Stephen King fans ask me for recommendations, especially as I can tell that Stephen King readers have good taste. Magazine Man is, while writing in a different genre, as good a writer, as skilled a writer, as entertaining a writer as Stephen King.

Magazine Man, or Mag Man, or MM, writes anecdotes, stories that one would hear at the corner bar or at a great restaurant, chatting with friends. Every one of his posts is a tale that captures you, that reaches into you and makes your day better. Not in a religious or Zen way, but in a laugh-out-loud way, in a tearfully joyous way. He's a real guy, as real as you or I, a guy who knows how to take relatively ordinary events that we all experience (sorta) and tell them in a way that makes them magical, that makes them extraordinary.

As for Stephen King, if you're a fan, you know that whether the actual events of each story captures you or not is almost immaterial, as it's the writing that keeps you in your seat. For me, Magazine Man has that same skill. A written version of Richard Burton reading the phone book*

If you dig Stephen King, if you love Night Shift, if you love The Stand, if you love The Dead Zone, you'll love Magazine Man. I could not make a more loving recommendation.


*For the young kids, Richard Burton was a great actor who had such a fantastic voice that people said that they would even listen to him read something as boring as the phonebook.